Courage takes practice…and practice…and practice…
If you’ve been around us long enough you know how often “Courage” comes up as a topic; it’s a big part of our leadership practice. And when we’re not bringing it up, our clients, colleagues, friends, family...are bringing it up. Especially these days.
Courage is a nut we’re all still trying to crack. If you’re like me, you learned that courage is something you have or you don’t have. Here’s the good news - courage is something we all have and a skill that can be practiced. It starts with facing fear, uncertainty, and discomfort head-on and moving forward anyway.
“Facing fear” is where a lot of us get stuck. That’s because it means reckoning with our emotions, which I was taught to avoid - “Keep emotions out of it…”, “Work is no place for emotions…”, “There’s no crying in baseball!”…Sound familiar?
But here’s the thing - when we don’t face fear, it runs us. Or makes us run. Or freeze up. Whatever our go-to reaction to fear is, it severely limits our range of responses, which in turn limits our leadership effectiveness.
Here are 3 simple steps for you to try to help you face fear and reckon with tough emotions. It involves doing a whole lot of nothing. At least on the outside. On the inside…
Pause and breathe,
Simply notice what’s happening inside you,
Get curious about what’s happening.
The pause gives your fight/flight brain time to simmer down, the noticing gets you present, and the curiosity re-engages the creative part of your brain. Now you can maneuver with more awareness and agility, responding rather than reacting, and making wiser, more powerful choices. There’s lots more to unpack - we’ll get to that next time.
We have a few ways to learn more about finding your courage. The first is our new Leader-To-Leader workshops. The second way is to sign up for Dare To Lead™ the world’s most popular courage-building leadership program. The final way is to reach out and chat with us live.
Be brave and the world will follow.
